Conference

So why do I do things like stay up until 2 a.m. when I know I have to get up at 6:30? Ugh...

I have had a super packed conference and it's been really fun and stimulating, like conferences are supposed to be - it's got me energized for returning to certain intellectual endeavors. I was also pulled in a lot of directions because in addition to trying to fit in seeing friends and meeting up with colleagues to talk about work and attend sessions I also had a number of non-field people to see: a friend who lives in Philly, my sister, my Dad, my cousin and his family, and a bunch of my Dad's old friends. Which was fun, for the most part (other than the old family friend who kept trying to badger me into a political conversation that I didn't want to have -- if you're a millionaire from a lifetime of private business enterprises don't try to mask your conservative agenda to enact top-down accountability measures onto teachers through some faux "concern" about their work opportunities when really, you just hate the idea of unions. I was rolling my eyes so hard I thought they'd lodge in the back of my head). But other than that, fun if hectic.

Two sweet things. One was this other old friend who knew my mom when she was expecting me and knew me as a baby. He really wanted to try to explain that I mattered to them and was a big part of their lives. That touched me. It is cool to have an alternate perspective from the one I'm more accustomed to having.

The other is something I observed in a talk. I was sitting behind Very Famous Guy who is one of my idols (and who I turned down a job with last year, which is still a little hard/awkward), and he was sitting next to Extremely Famous Guy, who was his advisor waaaaaaaaaaay back in the day. And during the talk, the speaker referred to VFG as somebody whose ideas informed his thinking and sparked what became the research project he was reporting on. And then I saw VFG's old advisor, EFG, write a note on the back of his program book to VFG. EFG wrote, "You did a good job!" I don't know. I just thought it was so cool that VFG, who is super senior and established and stuff, still get that kind of affirmation from his advisor.